Chapter 20

It was not until the Ancient Enlightenment Ceremony began that Lou Yue suddenly realized something was wrong.

She had only planned to bring Xiao Rangchen here to trigger the plot, never expecting him to take part in the ancient tree enlightenment?

In the original story, Long Aotian had already pulled off a stunning enlightenment and stole the show with his damaged spiritual vein. Now that Xiao Rangchen had a fully restored spiritual vein, what on earth was he going to do??

Impulse really is the devil...

Up on the high platform, Lou Mo had already raised his hand, pressing his palm against the void.

The surrounding spiritual energy rippled softly, and a giant gate several yards wide gradually materialized out of thin air. Its door was carved with ancient chi dragons, and dark gold light flowed along the powerful, simple character "Lou" right at its center.

As Lou Mo curled his finger, the giant gate rumbled open downward. Dazzling yet gentle warm light gushed out, forming a cascading waterfall of light that fell down, slowly revealing the outline of an ancient tree through the floating light dust.

The tree's trunk was more than ten zhang thick, entirely pale gold, with powerful branches stretching out in all directions. Its boat-shaped leaves were edged with a deeper ring of golden glow.

The wind brushed the treetops, but there was no rustling sound of ordinary wood, only a deep, melodious hum that stretched on for ages.

Just standing beneath it, Lou Yue could feel her sea of consciousness growing clear, and the spiritual energy all around her started circulating on its own.

Lou Mo glanced at the crowd below before turning to take his seat. Lou Zhongyan at the edge of the high platform stepped forward and spoke, "Everyone, this is our Lou Clan's ancient banyan tree. It has taken root in our ancestral land ever since the clan was founded, standing for thousands of years and absorbing the dao insights of generations of our strongest cultivators."

"Today, our clan leader has opened the ancestral gate to manifest this ancient banyan, so that all of you may climb the tree and gain enlightenment. But the dao mysteries stored within this ancient banyan are vast, far more than ordinary cultivators can casually bear. After you climb the tree, you must remember three rules."

"First, do not touch the clear dew. That dew condenses the dao of the primordial era, and anyone with an unstable dao foundation whose recklessly touches it will have their spiritual energy collapse. Second, each branch of the ancient banyan holds a different dao. Find the one that resonates with you and sit there, do not fight over positions or climb too high. Third, if you feel your sea of consciousness churning, that is the sign you have reached your upper limit of capacity. Immediately calm your mind and come down from the tree, do not force it, or you will surely suffer backlash."

Lou Zhongyan extended his hand to gesture toward the ancient tree, and a winding spiritual ladder rose from the ground all the way up. "All the guests here are accomplished cultivators of the cultivation world. Today, our Lou Clan makes no distinction of status. Anyone who wishes to gain insight may climb the tree."

Someone in the crowd spoke up, "Even commoners?"

"We make no distinction of status. If a commoner is here, that is their own good fortune," Lou Zhongyan nodded with a smile. "Everyone, you may begin now."

That person still had more to say, but seeing so many others already stepping onto the spiritual ladder, they did not bother to argue further.

Cang Wu stared at Xiao Rangchen in the distance and swore under his breath, "Lucky bastard."

Yue Qi patted his shoulder, "Relax. He's only at the Foundation Establishment stage, what insight could he possibly get? You're not going to lose this bet."

Cang Wu took a deep breath, suppressing the unease in his heart. Right, so what if his spiritual vein is healed? He's still just a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Their understanding of dao is two entire great realms above his.

Most of the people who had come for the birthday celebration were here for the ancient tree enlightenment. Before long, nearly all of them had climbed up. Lou Weixiao, Cangya Xun, Liufeng Xin and several others had already found their own branches to sit cross-legged on.

Lou Yue followed suit onto the spiritual ladder, found a suitable spot and sat down. She glanced over to see Xiao Rangchen still seeming to search for a place, then turned her eyes away.

The process of enlightenment was magical. It was like a dusty mirror being slowly wiped clean of all its grime by mountain winds. The disturbances of the mortal world and the restlessness in one's heart gradually faded away. All that was left between heaven and earth was the soft hum from the branches, one's breath and heartbeat falling in sync with the tree, until one's soul felt almost merged with every gust of wind and every single leaf...

When her consciousness finally returned to clarity, she had no idea how much time had passed.

Thick, mellow spiritual energy swirled and condensed in her dantian, suddenly breaking through the bottleneck.

She had advanced. She skipped the entire Nascent Soul Initial Stage from her Golden Core Great Perfection base, and had directly broken through to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

Lou Yue reined in the spiritual energy around her, slowly opening her eyes, only to meet the sharp gaze Lou Mo had cast down from the high platform. He only looked at her for a split second before shifting his sight away.

Quite a few people who had finished their enlightenment were already standing beneath the ancient tree. Lou Yue got to her feet and scanned the area.

Apart from herself, there were only two people left on the massive tree.

Xiao Rangchen, and Cangya Xun.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Cangya Xun also finished his enlightenment. When he realized the only person left up there was Xiao Rangchen, his face turned dark in an instant.

"Isn't he that commoner? Why is he still on the tree?"

"Could it be that he didn't gain any insight at all, so he can't even feel the point where he's reached his limit? Hahaha."

"Even the Young Lord of Cangya has come down. Could it be that he's stronger than the Young Lord of Cangya?"

"No way, he's just putting on a show. Commoners really are tacky and unrefined."

"Why does the Lou Clan let him get away with that?"

"Hahaha, is he so busy pretending that he can't even bring himself to climb down now? Should we go up and drag him down?"

...

The man was sitting cross-legged on top of a golden leaf, a few strands of dark hair hanging loosely, brushed gently by the wind.

On his sharp, handsome face, his long eyelashes cast a dark shadow over his eyes, and the black thorn earring on his right ear glinted coldly, matching his slightly pursed thin lips, adding a touch of cool, distant allure.

Humans are such strange creatures.

The more someone seems to shut others out, the more they make one's heart itch.

It makes you want to peek, to see what's hidden under that cold, hard exterior.

Lou Yue suddenly froze. What on earth was she thinking?

What was hidden under there? Nothing but a scumbag, of course.

No matter how he pretends, he can't change the fact that he's the type who likes to keep multiple people around.

Just then, whispers from two girls beside her drifted into her ears.

"Ugh, even though he's a commoner, his looks are genuinely outstanding. And that waist, from my experience, his waist strength must be incredible. Aren't you going to regret it later?"

"Here you go again... My father would never let me marry a commoner..."

"You sound so full of regret."

"...Aren't you the one who's regretting it? If only he wasn't a commoner..."

See? On top of being a scumbag, he just naturally draws people to him.

Lou Yue lost all interest. She walked over to sit down by the side, sinking her mind into feeling the changes in her body after the breakthrough.

About half an hour later, a clear dragon roar rang out from the top of the ancient tree.

The tiny bits of golden light swirling around Xiao Rangchen turned into thousands of golden rainbows that shot straight into the sky. The ancient tree trembled, spiritual winds surged wildly, instantly triggering a resonance with the heaven and earth. Masses of spiritual energy from all over the sky rushed toward him like crazy.

"He broke through two entire great realms!!" someone in the crowd gasped out loud in shock.

Lou Yue focused her gaze on him, sensing that Xiao Rangchen was now at the Nascent Soul stage.

From Foundation Establishment to Golden Core to Nascent Soul, he had actually skipped two entire major levels. Thankfully, he hadn't surpassed her, stopping at the Nascent Soul Initial Stage.

But a breakthrough that skipped two great realms had never been seen before. Even the several clan leaders up on the high platform had turned their eyes toward him.

The moment Xiao Rangchen climbed down, he was immediately surrounded. Even as a commoner, with such monstrous natural talent, every great clan would be eager to recruit him.

Lou Yue moved quickly, blocking the path of someone who was trying to sneak away.

"Where do you think you're going? Afraid of losing face?"

Cang Wu's face darkened completely when Lou Yue threw his earlier words right back at him.

"The four great clans stand united. Lou Yue, you'd better not pick a fight with the Cangya Clan over some irrelevant nobody."

Lou Yue scoffed contemptuously, "You lost the bet, don't drag the entire Cangya Clan into this."

Just as Cangya Wu's face was turning livid, thinking he was about to be humiliated in front of everyone, Cangya Xun's voice came from up ahead, "Cang Wu."

Cang Wu's face lit up with relief, as if he had been granted amnesty. He arrogantly huffed at Lou Yue, then quickly followed behind Cangya Xun and left.

Lou Yue lifted her foot to follow after them, but her arm was suddenly pulled from behind.

"Don't go." Xiao Rangchen had somehow shaken off the surrounding crowd. "Cangya Xun is deep and cunning. Don't confront him head on."

Lou Yue watched Cangya Xun and Cang Wu walking off, her peach blossom eyes narrowing. She was just about to snap at him when a familiar figure caught her sight.

"He won't be happy for long."

Xiao Rangchen spoke in a slow, even tone, but Lou Yue acted as if she hadn't heard him at all. She stared straight ahead into the distance, and the resentment in her eyes faded, replaced by obvious delight.

Xiao Rangchen followed her line of sight, and saw the woman who was the reason she had been willing to wait on the covered bridge.

When Lou Yue pulled her gaze back, she noticed that Xiao Rangchen was also looking at Liufeng Xin. This was the second time he had stared at Liufeng Xin that day.

The white moonlight was indeed something special.

It wasn't exactly disappointment. More like a sudden realization that the time had come.

It was like a bird with a wounded wing that had accidentally fallen into her home. She had cared for it for a few days, and now that its injury had healed, it was flying off to the place it belonged.

So many things had spiraled out of her control lately that she had almost forgotten her own identity. She and Xiao Rangchen were rivals, and in this world, she was nothing more than a side character who existed to play the part of his romantic rival.

Earlier, he had been stuck at his lowest point, which had let her get the upper hand. But now, his spiritual meridian had healed, and the entire cultivation realm would soon witness his rise, with no one left able to stand in his way.

She had to give it her all to avoid falling too far behind him, to gain the power to change the doomed ending.

Lou Yue pulled her arm out of his grasp, stepped back to put some distance between them, and said in a cool, steady voice, "I brought you up to Xuan Tiandu. Now that your cultivation level is nearly the same as mine, there's no need for you to stay by my side any longer."

"We were never meant to walk the same path. From now on, you take your wide open road, and I'll cross my single-plank bridge. The life you owe me, plus the three favors you promised me, I'll come find you when the time comes to collect."

Xiao Rangchen lifted his eyes. There was no expression on his face, but the look in his eyes darkened.

"Tomorrow you..." Lou Yue had been about to tell him not to take part in the competition the next day, but then she thought better of it. There was no reason Xiao Rangchen would listen to her. Tomorrow, she was the one who should be on edge. If she lost, she would never get into the sect of Que Yunsheng, never get that special advantage she needed, and things would only get harder for her from there.

"Don't hold back against me tomorrow." She wanted to see for herself how big the gap between them really was.

Lou Yue glanced in the direction Liufeng Xin had left. "I have things to take care of. I'm leaving now."

"Oh right," she stopped in her tracks. "Your sister. I think it's better for Xiao Aiai to stay here in Xuan Tiandu. I'll arrange everything properly, make sure she has a safe place to stay."

Seeing Xiao Rangchen stay silent, Lou Yue assumed he was unwilling. "You're going off to seek revenge. You might not fear the danger, but what will those people do to her? Staying by your side will only put her in harm's way. I suggest you give up on that idea."

"Stop talking."

Lou Yue frowned. "It's better for both of you if you let this go. She has a bright future ahead of her. Before she even—"

"I said stop talking!" Xiao Rangchen cut her off sharply, his tone taut with a hint of suppressed rage.

Lou Yue froze. She had never expected Xiao Rangchen to care so deeply about Xiao Aiai. But that made sense. In the book, when he found out he and Xiao Aiai were not blood-related, he had immediately taken her into his harem. If their bond had only been that of siblings, that shift would never have happened so naturally.

After all, she was just an outsider. All she could do was give Xiao Aiai a choice and make sure there was a safety net for her. What would happen to the girl in the end, she had no way of knowing.

Just like she had no idea if she would end up dying at Xiao Rangchen's hands someday.

Lou Yue brushed a stray strand of wind-tousled hair away from her face. Forget it. She had said all that needed to be said. Other people's lives should be decided by themselves.

She no longer looked at the man with the dark, heavy expression in front of her, turned around resolutely, and left.

Xiao Rangchen swallowed the bitter taste in his throat, slowly closed his eyes, and stood there, listening to the sound of her footsteps fade away little by little.